Minor hydraulic fluid leak aboard Island Home, a Governor hiccup 

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The Island Home blocked off a row of parking so that cars would not be drizzled with leaking hydraulic fluid. –Rich Saltzberg

Updated Aug. 26

The MV Island Home suffered a minor hydraulic fluid leak Thursday evening from lift-deck tubing over the vehicle deck. Cones were placed on a small section of the deck to prevent vehicles from parking under the tubing. Steamship Authority spokesman Sean Driscoll said the tubing only dripped, and didn’t release a significant amount of hydraulic fluid. No fluid dripped on anybody or any vehicle, he said. As of 7 am Friday morning, cones were still on the vehicle deck. Sometime after that the tubing was replaced, Driscoll said. In June, Oak Bluffs resident Frank Cray was soaked in his pickup truck from a release of hydraulic fluid from a lift deck on the Island Home. 

The MV Governor suffered a bearing failure to a pump connected to the vessel’s bilge and fire suppression systems on Friday. One round-trip between Woods Hole and Vineyard Haven was canceled that afternoon, and two later trips were delayed, due to the downtime the vessel needed for repairs. 

To manage passenger flow while the Governor was down, the SSA made an extra trip with the MV Sankaty, and employed a lift deck on the Island Home, Driscoll said.

Updated to clarify the extent of the leak and to add information about the Governor.

1 COMMENT

  1. It sounds like the SSA needs to outfit the Island Home with a giant set of Depends. The leaking is uncontrollable, nor is their ability to remedy the situation.

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